How to Make Vietnamese Coffee

Here’s a quick recipe on how to make iced Vietnamese coffee. I’ve never been to Vietnam but this is an approximation based on what I’ve had a Vietnamese restaurants. The final product is going to look something like this and taste great:

(Caution: Be aware of what you are doing while making the coffee because it involves boiling water and metal parts both of which are going to be hot enough to burn during this process.)

Here is what you need to get started:

The stainless steel coffeemaker, shown in the image below, can be found at many Asian food stores. They run about $5 (USD) each. You’ll need one for each person because it takes about 15 minutes to brew a cup. The yellow-orange can of coffee/chicory blend can also be found in Asian markets (or order from Cafe du Monde). It typically costs under $10. Chicory is the coffee-like roasted root of the chicory plant.

This is a close-up of the coffee maker. The coffee goes inside and the other piece screws in on top:

You’ll also need some sweetened condensed milk. Check the ingredients before you buy it and be sure to get one that doesn’t have any hydrogenated oil in it. (Eating hydrogenated oil is unhealthy.) Fill a glass cup with a spoonful or two of the sweetened, condensed milk depending on how sweet you want the coffee.

Add coffee and leave enough space to screw in the top piece:

The following image has two coffee makers in it — the one on the left is empty, and the one on the right is filled with coffee and assembled. Screw the top piece in snugly.

Put the loaded coffee maker on top of the glass, and fill it 1/4 full with boiling water. Coffee will start to drip out of the bottom onto the sweetened condensed milk.

As soon as that water drips through, unscrew the inner piece of the coffee maker about two revolutions to loosen it a little bit. Be careful because the metal (and liquid) may be hot. To avoid touching the metal, you could try using a large coin like a screwdriver. I only do this step because I read about it in the instructions that came with all the Vietnamese coffee filters that I’ve ever bought.

Now fill the coffee maker to the top with boiling water:

Put the cap on the coffee maker and get a glass of ice ready while the coffee is brewing. It will take about 15 minutes to brew the coffee.

Here is the coffee, done brewing:

Use a spoon to mix the coffee with the condensed milk:

If you want the coffee iced, pour it over the ice and serve:

If you try this Vietnamese iced coffee recipe, please leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out!